I’LL admit I still feel tired as I walk through the dark streets in drizzling rain on my way to an early morning yoga class.

My family are still in their beds and most houses are still in the dark.

When I arrive at St Lawrence’s Church Hall, Lawrence Street, at 7.15am, the scene is set for relaxation. Candles are dotted around the hall, their warm orange glow flickering in the dark and creating a mood of serenity.

Yoga teacher Jon Hughes greets me and eight others, offering us a warming cup of tea. “Green or lemon and ginger?” he kindly asks.

Jon set up these early-morning sessions in October and runs them from Monday to Friday between 7.30am and 8.30am. Participants are welcome to come a bit earlier for a cuppa, which is especially welcome on this cold, damp, wintry morning.

At 7.30am, we all take to the yoga mats laid out in the spacious hall and follow Jon as he leads the session.

The classes are aimed at all abilities, and having taken a straw poll, today’s participants have a mixed range of experience.

I do Pilates and stretch classes regularly at my gym, so am hopeful that I will be flexible enough to follow the moves.

Jon reassuringly tells us to go at our own pace and not overdo it. It’s not a competition and we should listen to our bodies.

During the class, he stays on his mat. There is no wandering around, checking that everyone is doing the “right thing”.

He says: “I don’t do adjustments. I have been to classes like that and didn’t like the feeling of being observed. If people don’t want to do something, they can just do something else.”

We begin by sitting cross-legged on the mat, tuning into how our body feels. Immediately, I feel the tightness in my hips and glutes and also across the middle of my back. I hope we don’t have to sit like this too long, and I don’t need to worry, because we are soon on our feet, carrying out a range of stretches and poses designed to lengthen our spines and muscles.

Yoga regulars or anyone who has been to Pilates, Pure Stretch or Body Balance classes will be familiar with many of the manoeuvres Jon takes us through. We do “down dog” with our hands on the floor and tailbone raised so our bodies form an inverted ‘V’. We make a plank, again on hands and feet, with body raised and held as straight as a rod. We complete two sets of “sun salutation”, where moves flow from standing to lunging then on to the floor and raising up like a cobra. There are some challenging balances too, where we have to put all our weight on to one leg and hope we don’t topple over.

“Pick one spot and focus on it while you try to balance,” is Jon’s tip. As I raise my right leg and place it on my left thigh while clasping my hands to my heart, I’m staring through the window to the trees outside; daylight is slowly arriving.

Jon encourages us to breathe deeply, inhaling and exhaling through the moves. This is an important part of getting the most out of yoga, insists Jon, who sees the activity as benefiting the mind as much as the body.

He says: “For me yoga isn’t about fitness or working out – if I wanted to do that I would rather go to the gym or for a run. It’s about mindfulness and stillness and the experience of working together in a group and moving and breathing together. It is very simple, but very effective.”

Hilda Lenoir can vouch for that. She started yoga last October when she joined Jon’s class. Now she attends three or four times a week and says “it’s given me my life back.” The music teacher says she had been suffering from fatigue and lack of motivation before taking up yoga. “I am much more motivated. I always really struggled with energy levels and tiredness. But now I am really motivated to eat well, get healthy and I feel I have a lot more energy for my work.”

For pensioner Harold Mozley, the classes have allowed him to take up yoga again – it was something he taught himself from a book as a teenager. “It just shows you that if you learn something, it stays with you,” says the 66-year-old. He adds that it is a great way to start the day.

“I am retired so I can easily just get up, have a cup of coffee and read the paper and that is the morning gone.”

Calmness is one of the great benefits of yoga, says Harold, who worked as a social worker in the family court before retirement. “Yoga is a great way to calm you down. It’s about awareness, breathing and control. If you breathe out for longer than you breathe in, you will feel calmer.” He says he used to advise clients to do this when things became heated. “I would tell them to breathe out for eight and breathe in for five.”

Jane Tai has just taken up yoga. She works from home so likes the breakfast class because she can easily fit it into her day, and it is a great way to meet people.

“I could spend the day at home and not see or speak to anyone,” she says. The class, she asserts, is suitable for novices.

“I consider myself a beginner. I found it easy to do and Jon explains it all very clearly.” She says she likes the pace of the class. “It allows the muscles to slowly release into the stretch. It loosens you up and sets you up for the day.”

Classes cost £5 per session, £15 for all five sessions in the week, £45 for a complete month, or £120 for the term. To find out more, or book, visit: jhulayogayork.wordpress.com